26 July 2011

No one steps up. The workshop is ending, the walls are covered with great charts guiding the way to the future, and no one makes a move to collect the charts or offers to call the next meeting or lead the effort. There is power in controlling the charts and great opportunity in leading the effort but no one shows an interest. This is a regular occurrence, now, and foreign to my way of thinking. Are change agents extinct? I am not talking about blackbelts or continuous improvement people, I am talking about system level change agents. The people who can tie together organizational philosophy, HR implications and finance. Did the environment that created us change so dramatically that people no longer see the opportunities and potential? The new work environment seems most open to short-term changes, local decisions, and low risk; almost enhanced training. I am seeing little appetite for bigger, more complex system level changes. The downsizing has left people loaded with additional work and the new workforce seems more reserved to take on the extra project. The work of “change agent” is valuable and necessary and worthy of cultivation. Good change agents are driven by convictions, they have vision, they can deal with risk and politics and they are willing to get out front and lead. For some, it is time to shake off and take up the mantle once again of change agent. For others, it is time to coach and encourage a younger member of your staff to step up and be-come a change agent. Either way, we can not let this breed become extinct.

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Be well and keep adding value,
Alden B.
1-860-748-3780
www.MyValueTree.com
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